Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie
Plot A sinister alien pirate named Divatox hatched a plan to release her fiancee Maligore from the island Muranthias on Earth. To get to the island, she needed to kidnap a wizard named Lerigot from the planet Liaria, and use his magical key. Luckily for Lerigot, he evaded capture and fled to Earth, where he sought protection from the Power Rangers. The Rangers were practicing for a martial arts tournament. Rocky made a wrong move and ended up throwing out his back. While visiting him at the hospital, a young friend of the Rangers named Justin discovered the Rangers' identity. Zordon summoned the Rangers to protect Lerigot. Armed with Power Boxes, Tommy and Kat rescued Lerigot from the African wilderness, but they ended up losing him to Divatox later on. Divatox took the wizard to Muranthias along with other captives - Bulk and Skull, Jason, Kimberly, and Lerigot's wife and child. Before taking off after Divatox, the Rangers were given new powers by Zordon and Alpha 5, which made them Turbo Rangers. They were joined by Justin, who took Rocky's place as the Blue Turbo Ranger. The Rangers sailed on a ship to Muranthias, where they faced the Putra Pods. Divatox arrived on the island along with her crew - Elgar, Rygog, and an army of Piranhatrons - and sacrificed Jason and Kimberly to Maligore's fire. The Rangers reached the temple to find their friends turned evil by Maligore's flames. The team battled Jason, Kimberly, and the rest of Divatox's forces as Maligore arose from the fiery pit. Lerigot restored Jason and Kimberly, and the Rangers fought Maligore with their Power Weapons. The Rangers fled, and Maligore grew into a giant. The Rangers called on their Turbo Zords and formed the Turbo Megazord, with which they destroyed Maligore. The Rangers saved the world just in time to win the martial arts competition, as an infuriated Divatox swore vengeance on the heroes. Trivia *Due to a contract dispute, director David Winning only received co-credit with the producer, and no editing influence. [9] *Unlike the first movie, this movie takes place within the continuity of the television series. The first episode of Power Rangers: Turbo takes place after the movie. *Additionally, unlike the first movie, the appearance was closer to the television show. The Ranger suits were spandex rather than the armor-like suits of the first movie, and the Megazord was filmed with the series' suitmation style rather than computer graphics. *Certain sets and costumes from the movie, such as the Power Chamber set and the Alpha costume, were also used in the television series, albeit with no mention of the extensive makeover they received in the interim. *This film shows the first instance of blood in the entire TV series; when Katherine fell into the river, her leg was busted open, causing her to bleed. *The film was poorly received and is most likely the reason that the Power Rangers have not made a theatrical appearance since. *Although the film was a flop in the U.S., it was a cult classic in the U.K. *Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa were originally planned to be the main villains with Divatox appearing later to join them. *Steve Cardenas (Rocky) was injured while performing a stunt towards the end of Power Rangers: Zeo and as a result had to leave the show, requiring the exit of his character. *The plasma tubes in the back of the Power Chamber now display the Rangers' colors rather than the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' suits and weapons. *Tommy (Jason David Frank), Rocky (Steve Cardenas), Adam (Johnny Yong Bosch), and Kimberly (Amy Jo Johnson) are the only characters to appear in both this movie and the previous movie, although only Tommy and Adam are active Rangers in both. *The original cut was over three hours long; it included a fight with a crocodile, a longer trek through the volcano, a mermaid, a bungee-jumping stunt for Adam, and more character development for Justin. None of the footage from this version has ever been released. *The original shooting script included a new character Mandika the Mermaid, described as having alabaster skin, black/blue hair that trails over her bare chest and a strange voice. She would have assisted the Rangers on their journey and acted as a new friend/love interest to Adam. Originally, Mandika would have saved Kimberly after she ran out of air escaping Divatox's submarine and Mandika would have taken her to Muiranthias. However, all of Mandika's scenes were cut out of the film and the actress who plays her is unknown/uncredited. *Austin St. John originally declined returning to Power Rangers after leaving in Season 2, demanding a higher salary and a rewrite to turn Jason evil. *David Yost (Billy) was seen on the set filming scenes for the movie and his character was supposed to help co-create the Turbo powers. However, when Yost left the "Power Rangers Zeo" TV series (which was filming the same time as the "Turbo" movie), the crew scrambled to re-write the script and they wrote Billy out. *Haim Saban wanted Walter Jones and Thuy Trang to be involved with the film and reprise their roles as Zack and Trini, respectively. Both actors declined, because actors on the "Turbo" movie didn't have Screen Actors Guild cards and they did not want to give up theirs to work on the movie. *Austin St. John and Amy Jo Johnson were originally considered by the crew to become the Red and Pink Turbo Rangers, while Kat would have become the Yellow Turbo Ranger. Rumors insist Jason David Frank and Nakia Burrise wanted to leave the show and the crew thought bringing back two old Rangers would be good for the show and boost ratings. Both actors declined to return as active Power Rangers due to the show's long hours and low pay. *It is believed that the Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger, and possibly all five of the original Rangers, were to appear in the film. Original plans were for Billy (David Yost) to re-create the original Power Morphers' link to the Morphing Grid and have the five founding Rangers return assist for the children's shelter event, which would lead them to return as the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Billy would have fixed his damaged Morpher and Kimberly's, while the Morphers of Jason, Zack and Trini would have had the link to their undamaged Morphers reactivated after they were dormant from the Sword of Light's transfer effects in "The Power Transfer, Part 2". Internet rumors insist that Haim Saban intended to have the five Mighty Morphin Power Rangers assist the Turbo Rangers on Muiranthias and they would use their original, repaired Dinozords to form Megazord and help the Turbo Megazord destroy a giant-sized Maligore. When Walter Jones and Thuy Trang declined to give up their SAG cards to work on the movie, the script was changed to have Billy fix and use his Power Morpher to go with the Turbo Rangers to Muiranthias save the Liarians, Jason and Kimberly. It is unknown if plans were to have Billy repair Jason and Kimberly's Morphers as well in the finale of the "Turbo" movie. However, David Yost had left during filming, Austin St. John and Amy Jo Johnson declined to work on "Power Rangers" beyond their guest stint in the "Turbo" movie, and any plans for bringing back the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fell through. Reception The film has a negative rating of 18% "Extremely Rotten" on Rotten Tomatoes.